Erlich creates installations in which the architectural elements are used to form spaces designed for the perception of pretence. His works reveal a living room, a swimming pool, an elevator, familiar spaces that he deprives of their essence in a game of optical illusions, inversions and reflections.
NoguerasBlanchard is proud to present the second gallery exhibition
of Leandro Erlich (Buenos Aires, 1973). This exhibition is
articulated around a selection of Erlich’s maquettes, which
reproduce the artist’s architectural installations to the minutest
detail, coinciding with his exhibition in the Museo Nacional Centro
de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid.
For the first time shown as a body of work, these objects, hybrids
between art and architecture, are a crucial part of Erlich’s
creative process. Acting as manageable prototypes they allow him to
explore spatial dimensions and simulate a project on a smaller scale
while they point to his work’s “relationship with a scientific
precision, that reinforces a certain rational and logical sense which
helps me to contruct reality”. In this way, Erlich shows us the
mechanism behind his installations and allows the viewer to
experience his optical illusions from contemplation rather than
interaction. The maquettes in this exhibition were conceived as
preparatory studies for projects such as La Torre (2007), on view at
the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía; Carrousel (2008)
produced for the Liverpool Biennial; Batiment (2004); Window and
Ladder (2008) currently in the New Orleans Biennial ; Staircase
(2005); Elevator Maze a yet unrealized project.
Leandro Erlich creates installations in which the architectural
elements are used to form spaces designed for the perception of
pretence. His works reveal a living room, a swimming pool, an
elevator, familiar spaces that he deprives of their essence in a game
of optical illusions, inversions and reflections. Erlich’s
intriguing structures take over places that are part of everyday
life, transforming them into a scenario that stimulates the mental
and physical activity of the observer who, by interacting with the
surrounding space becomes an integral part of a complex narrative
structure. His employment of reflective materials and their use in
the exploration of perception through spatial games, mirror
reflections and transparent glass can be traced to the practice of
conceptual artists such as Dan Graham.
The ephemeral nature of Erlich’s installations, continuing the
tradition of artists such as Christo and Jean-Claude, endorses the
significance of these maquettes not only as a crucial part of the
artistic process which captures the creative immediacy of the whole
project, but as testimonies of larger works which may no longer
actually exist.
Leandro Erlich has participated in the II Singapore Biennial (2008),
the V Liverpool Biennial (2008) and in Prospect I, New Orleans
Biennial (2008), XXVI Sao Paulo Biennial (2004), Shanghai Biennial
(2002), VII Istanbul Biennial (2001), VII Havana Biennial (2000) and
the Whitney Biennial (2000). His exhibitions include MACRO, Rome
(2006) ; Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2006); The 21st Century Museum of
Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japón (2004); Centre d´Art Santa
Mónica, Barcelona (2003). In 2005 he was selected for the Italian
Pavillion in the en la 51ª Venice Biennial and in 2001 he
represented Argentina in the 49th Venice Biennial with his work
Swimming Pool.
Currently he has solo shows in PS1, New York and the Museo Nacional
Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. Leandro Erlich lives and works in
Buenos Aires.
Nogueras Blanchard
xucla', 7 - Barcelona
Free admission